Back to shoes shopping

You may remember that 2007 was a particularly bad year for buying shoes and sneakers, at least in my book. Well, I've tried to rectify that with my first pair of sneakers in 2008: the Mizuno Wave Smash RG.

I bought this yesterday at Mizuno's showroom in Magallanes. They had a clearance sale and I was surprised to see their 2007 premier mid-cut badminton shoe selling for about 3/4 the initial price back then. While my dad was rummaging through their stocks of golf bags, I couldn't find my size in all their cheaper variants so I decided to pick this one up.

The Wave Smash RG actually isn't in my size; I got one that's the next size bigger. It's still superbly comfortable to wear, even on my strangely sized left foot.

I can't wait to bring this to the Taraflex and see how it does.

The last time I buy new sneakers this year...I hope

The day Paolo Cruz and I became level 6 champions was the same day my trusty Adidas Samba Millenniums finally gave up. Two years and a few months after buying them from Santa Monica in California, the soles sheared themselves off their uppers.

Unfortunately this means I have to spend again...and I'm hoping this is the last time I buy footwear in the foreseeable future. I had grown tired of Yonex's poor durability and arch support, and by now I knew I shouldn't be slapping the Taraflex with futsal shoes that, while good to play with, trap an intense amount of heat in my toes. I also suffered for a while with shoes that fit my right foot fine, but made my slightly bigger left foot sore.

This time I went to SM Megamall and dropped by Mizuno's store. I looked all around Makati for a badminton shoe of theirs in my size, in vain. I got the Wave Gate II and found the size-27.0 pair a little loose, but tightening the laces and performing some light footwork at the shop yielded a surprisingly good fit. I got them for PhP2750---still cheap for any pair of sneakers nowadays, let alone a purpose-built badminton shoe!

Badminton is hard on the feet and hard on footwear. Ahh, the price of my favorite sport...